


You Don't Have to Hide

by wordsbykaly



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Best Friends, Cute, Dorms, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Hacy, I Tried, Jae - Freeform, Jae Park - Freeform, One Shot, Siblings, Young K, Young K is your brother here, Younghyun - Freeform, dialogue prompt, unspoken feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:00:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24941962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordsbykaly/pseuds/wordsbykaly
Summary: wherein Hacy wants to stay away but Jaehyung won't let her.
Relationships: Kang Younghyun | Young K & Original Female Character(s), Kang Younghyun | Young K & Park Jaehyung | Jae, Park Jaehyung | Jae/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	You Don't Have to Hide

**Author's Note:**

> From the dialogue prompt: "C'mere, you can sit in my lap until I'm done working."

“ _Hacy, open up_ ,” a muffled voice says, a light hand tapping frantically on her door. “ _Younghyun is taking_ forever _to get here and my lungs are_ dying.”

She isn’t in the mood for people. After all, it’s been a long day: her art teacher moved up the deadline for their midterm project (a digital miniature of Mona Lisa in three colors). Her lab partner is making her redo the entire schematic diagram for their experiment next week. To top it all off, her dad called about that scholarship. Again. Even though she’d told him straight up that she’d rather not go to college than take that stupid scholarship from that stupid, stuck up school.

Seoul is her dream; why can’t Papa see that?

Needless to say, Hacy isn’t in the best of spirits. But she won’t leave the voice’s owner out there to suffer; she isn’t _that_ cruel. After a couple of seconds, she gets up and takes the few steps from her desk to her door. She’s barely unbolted and turned the knob before Jaehyung squeezes in through the crack, pushing the door shut behind him. He leans against it, his long legs splayed against the floor, letting his backpack slip from his grasp as he catches his breath.

“How can you live like this?” he asks between long gulps of relatively cleaner air. “My alveoli are shrivelling up from that stink.”

“I _told_ you this. It’s mouth-breathing. _Duh.”_ She tosses him his emergency roll of fragrance – a stick which smells suspiciously like Irish Spring – before he starts griping about the fumes clogging his nostrils.

She should probably explain the smell.

See, no matter how often Hacy cleans, disinfects, and aromatizes each square inch of their unit, Hyun manages to get this stench – a mix of sweaty gym socks, blue cheese dressing, and Axe body spray – all over the place. What’s weird is her brother doesn’t smell bad per se. But somehow – _somehow_ – their home still ends up reeking and Hacy is 100% sure it’s his fault.

It’s gotten so bad that even their dog, Ddorong, has taken to staying in her room because it’s the only normal-smelling place left in the unit. No one even visits them more than once; they never say it to Hyun’s face, but the stench is enough to drive them all away.

Well, not everyone.

She moves Ddorong from his spot by her feet, setting him on the bed so Jaehyung would have more room for his legs. He groans, grateful for the chance to stretch.

“What are you even doing here?” she probes. “And where’s Hyun?”

He takes a swig of water before replying, his Adam’s apple bobbing when he swallows. “At the 7/11 downstairs? He was taking too long restocking his snack pile.”

“And you couldn’t wait?” she prods, though she knows the answer. After all, this is Jaehyung they’re talking about here. For everything apart from his schoolwork and music, he has patience the size of a peanut.

He scoffs, feigning offense. “Come on, Hacy, it’s like you don’t even know me!”

“Well, you’re not _my_ best friend, are you?” She gives him a once over before crashing into her swivel chair. Pulling up her tablet, she furiously taps her stylus on her desk, trying to summon the will to tackle her schoolwork. If she has any hope for ticking anything off her list, she needs to start pronto.

To her right, Jaehyung drags his pack closer to him, dusting it off as he places it on his lap. “Mind if I work here for a bit?”

“Do whatever you want.”

“Cool.” 

She hears him undo the zip and pull out something heavy – a laptop, probably – and for a few minutes they work in a companionable silence punctuated by Ddorong’s woofs for attention and the soft patter of Jaehyung’s fingers on his keyboard. It’s the familiarity that sets her head straight, and she clicks open the document with the experiment procedure to study it again.

Since she started living with her brother last year, she and Jaehyung have had this unspoken agreement: she’d let him hang out in her room to save his sinuses if he didn’t bug her while she studied. Of course, that never stopped him from talking his mouth off and distracting her with his quips and stories. She isn’t entirely convinced that’s a good thing. 

The thing is, while Hacy doesn’t _mind_ the company (like, okay, his jokes are sort of funny _sometimes),_ she’d rather they don’t talk that much. Talking can only lead to attachment and as far as she’s concerned, she’d rather not have any more ties to home than she has to. Seoul isn’t too far away from here (four hours by plane are nothing if you think about it) but she’s looking forward to a new life cut free from her past worries. Having less links makes it easier to do just that.

Unfortunately for her, Jaehyung has made it one of his life’s missions to get her comfortable enough to share her thoughts with him. It’s sweet how he tries so hard but she has no clue why he wants to. He hasn’t done anything to make her uncomfortable in the first place; she’d never admit it but something about him actually makes her feel like it’s _easier_ to open up. 

Still, she doesn’t want it to be too hard for her when it’s time to leave. She convinces herself it’s for the best and she almost believes it.

Almost.

Hacy isn’t surprised when she catches him stealing glimpses at her from time to time.

“You okay?” he ventures, the question uncertain on his tongue.

 _I’d be better I don’t have to redo this stupid diagram for chemistry class_ , she thinks. But she purses her lips, stopping the sigh from passing through them. “I’m great. Super.”

“You do know your face is saying the literal opposite of that, right? Like, you look more constipated than usual.”

She rolls her eyes. “Your brain is constipated.”

He ignores that. “Tough day at school?”

“Jaehyung,” she warns.

“It’s Jae, remember?” He raises his hands in surrender. “And what? Am I supposed to ignore you scowling holes into your tablet? I can feel the rage from here.”

“Um, yes?”

“Come on, Hacy,” he whines, pouting. 

She tries to pretend that she doesn’t find him unbelievably endearing, considering he’s a full three years older than her. Besides, he’s her _older brother’s best friend_ ; she isn’t supposed to think he’s _cute._ Like how baby chicks make you want to nuzzle their feathers before they’re smart enough to peck you in the eye kind of cute. 

He doesn’t give up. “Maybe talking about it can make you feel better!”

 _No, talking about it would make me feel worse, in the end._ She bites her lip, fake concentrating on her tablet. “Thanks but I’ll pass,” she says, coolly.

“Even if I treat you to ice cream?”

“Even if it’s three scoops of double dutch with strawberry syrup, Jaehyung.” 

By her bed, Ddorong yelps in protest, as if even he’s convincing her to get over herself. 

Jaehyung pushes his laptop away, crossing his arms over his chest. “What if I make Younghyun clean up around here for once?”

“Tempting,” she admits. “But we both know he won’t bite so it’s still a no.”

Ddorong’s yaps become more insistent. Something like _‘Don’t be stupid, Hacy, he’s just trying to help’_ in dog. Whose side is he on, anyway?

“How about… Wait, c’mere, you can sit in my lap until I’m done working.”

 _“What?”_ She swivels around to face him but he isn’t looking at her. His arms are stretched out to Ddorong who promptly hops off of her bed and climbs into his lap, barking happily at the attention he’s finally getting. When Jaehyung looks up at her, a mischievous glint in his eyes, she knows she’s caught.

_Shit._

“Hmm?” He hums innocently, his hands busying themselves with ruffling her dog’s fur. “Who’d you think I was talking to, Hacy?”

The heat rises to her face. “Uh, Ddorong? Obviously?” 

“But you’re blushing.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Your ears are red.”

“Shut up.”

“But it’s cute.”

“You’re _insufferable.”_

“You’re _adorable.”_

 _“Jaehyung.”_ But even with the warning in her tone, she can’t stop the smile from gracing her lips.

“That’s better.” Pleased, he grins back at her. He lowers his eyes to Ddorong, almost sheepish as his long fingers tangle themselves in Ddorong’s coat. “Okay, you don’t really have to tell me anything, if it makes you feel weird. And me talking a lot doesn’t mean I’m expecting you to talk back or anything,” he admits. “I mean… I’d gladly listen to your stories, too, alright? You don’t have to hide with me, Hacy.”

Her heart twists into a knot and suddenly it’s hard to smile, to pretend that this moment isn’t bittersweet.   
_It’s for the best,_ Hacy, a voice whispers in your brain. _Don’t get attached._

She’s really starting to hate that voice.

She forces herself to look away. She commands her heart to keep it down, confident that if it beat any faster Jaehyung would feel the vibrations. 

Thankfully Younghyun has amazing timing, _finally_ knocking on her door and saving her from further embarrassment.

“ _Jae, bro_ ,” Hyun calls from the other side. “ _You in there? Come on, let’s get that stupid report over with_.”

It takes mere seconds for Jaehyung to pack up. With his hand resting on the doorknob, he turns back, saying, “Don’t forget what I said, okay? I meant it.” After throwing one last look at Hacy, he slips out and disappears from sight.

She slumps in her chair, relishing the alone-ness as her heart takes its time to calm down. Ddorong is yelping again, crying for attention but she’s not in a state to give any. Try as she might to block the memory from her mind, the scene replays in her head again and again.

_“C’mere, you can sit in my lap until I’m done working.”_

_“Who’d you think I was talking to, Hacy?”_

_“You’re adorable.”_

_"You don't have to hide with me."_

She shakes her head to collect herself, palm closing around her neglected stylus. She can’t let him get to her – not now, not while he has time to crawl in her heart and claim her affection. 

_Get a grip, Hacy. Don’t get attached._

She can’t afford to be distracted. Immediate problems aside, there’s still the matter of convincing Papa about Seoul and she’ll do anything so he wouldn’t question her resolve about the move. 

_Don’t get attached._

_Don’t get attached._

_Don’t get attached._

And she won’t; she promises herself that she won’t. No matter how annoyingly adorable Park Jaehyung is.


End file.
